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While going through Pilgrim’s Progress, there is a very interesting sentence that Faithful says, “I have heard many cry out against sin in the pulpit, who can yet abide it well enough in the heart, house, and conversation.”

How true is that? How many preachers have committed adultery, theft, and things that should never be associated with a Christian? And, let’s make it personal now, what about YOU? Do you walk the walk and talk the talk, but there is a totally different story in your heart and house? Think about that for awhile.

I have been guilty of that, and still am! It is a constant struggle to always make sure we are doing the right thing. However, we must also remember that we do not do it by our own strength, but through Jesus. And He has promised to uphold us.

Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

This is just a short sharing. It is intended to make you stop and think. How are you living up to what you are saying? Do you preach or say one thing, but your heart is in total contradiction? Are you – am I – a hypocrite? This actually reminds me of a poem I wrote awhile ago:

At the snap of a finger,Like a wisp,Gone the flame – Never to be seen again.

Like the grass, are the days of man,Here right now,Gone the next – Never to be seen again.

You don’t know when you’d breathe your last.Could be now,Could be later – Never to be seen again.

Will you be ready when your time comes?Will you be ashamed Because you’ve not done your bestTo live up to His name?

I know you’ve got legions of sycophants kowtowing to you these days, and the rest you’ve set out to destroy — but you will lose.

So, you’ve tracked another dissident and skinned him alive. You’ve made an example of Brendan Eich, and now you dance joyously around his disemboweled carcass. You have his head on a spike, and you consider this a conquest in your eternal crusade to eradicate diversity and punish differing opinions. You launched your millionth campaign of intimidation, and now another good man has been dragged through the mud, to the sounds of taunting and jeering and death threats.

You found out that the CEO of Mozilla gave a few dollars to support a pro-traditional marriage ballot measure several…

Sharing another few verses from Romans 8:31, 35-39. Such wonderful verses that remind Christians about the love of God. 🙂

Romans 8: 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, for the last part of the three part essays! I will be posting a “Q&A” next.

Cyrus the Great and the Freedom of the Nation of Israel. In Isaiah, there are some chapters that tells of a certain individual named Cyrus:
Isaiah 44:28 “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”
Isaiah 45:1,13 “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.”
It states that this person would grant the captived nation of Israel freedom – with no obligations or reward asked – and let them rebuild their temple. It also states that Cyrus would be a great leader and conqueror. This passage was right on all counts.
The book of Isaiah was written approximately between 740-680 B.C. About 200 years before Cyrus was even born! And, what do you know, Cyrus built himself a great empire, and he also granted the nation of Israel their freedom.

The Defeat of Babylon In Isaiah 13: 19, it states, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” Predicting the defeat of this “impregnable” city.
Jeremiah 51:26, 43 also says, 26 “And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.” 43 “Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.”
Babylon truly was a magnificent city with its hanging gardens and “impregnable” walls. However, true to the prophecy that was written in two different books – Jeremiah was written between 630-580 B.C. – Babylon was destroyed in the Battle of Opis in 539 B.C.
Till this day, Babylon is still not a habitated nation. Although, the place is open to tourist. 🙂

The Gathering of Israel In quite a few passages in the Bible it tells of the nation of Israel being gathered together in their own country after being scattered abroad:
Isaiah 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isaiah 36:19, 24 “And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
24 “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.”
Now, this has been fufilled quite recently. On May 14, 1948, the Isrealites were once again gathered in their own country and given recognition. And this prophecy was written, oh, just a few thousand years ago.

An Explosion of Knowledge Near the End Times We truly are living in an incredible world. Throughout the years, the world has gotten “smaller” with a network of relatively fast and complex transportation system. This allows us to be with our relatives or friends who are on the other side of the world within a day; whereas, it used to be that it would take at least a month! Not only are we able to travel around the world, we are also living in a day and age where new information is being discovered at an incredible rate. And the public has easy access to most of this information.
Daniel 12:4 “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Written more than a thousand years ago, this verse had already prophesied this events which have come to pass!

Are you ready when the end times does come, or if you were to die today? I urge you to get this matter settled with!

Even though Everyman, the most famous of all the morality plays, was written centuries ago – late 15th century to be exact – much can still be learnt from it.

In the beginning of the play, Death approaches Everyman to inform him that it is his hour of death. Everyman is not ready to die and tries to bribe and reason with Death. Death does not succumb, but allows Everyman to bring a companion to speak for Everyman’s good works.

As the play continues, Everyman tries to get Fellowship to go with him. At first, Fellowship said that he would go with Everyman, yet, ultimately goes back on his word.

Next, Everyman approaches Goods, whom he loved the most. However, Goods out rightly refuses to go and states “That he [Goods] bringeth many into hell.” (Line 117)

Finally, Everyman approaches Good-Deeds, whom he loved the least. Even in her weakened state, for Everyman’s sins encumbered her, Good-Deeds readily agrees to go with Everyman.

Now, here’s what we can learn:

The majority of human beings are seldom ready to go when their time comes to die. Instead of focusing on things that really count for eternity – reaching other people for Christ and striving to live for Christ – we, like Everyman, tend to focus more on the world and the current pleasures of life (which Goods depicted), allowing them to drag us further into sin, and choose to ignore the Holy Spirit trying to work in us.

Alas, there is one, very wrong moral being taught in this play. The play emphasizes that Good-Deeds (which personifies the good works that people do) will be the one that allows us to get into and stay in Heaven. This is not true and goes against what Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For be grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works(Good-Deeds), lest any man should boast.”

Truly, is this not salvation plan simpler than trying to earn salvation by our own merits? For no matter how hard everyman will try to do good, our good will never be good enough for the Lord!